Monster Swings to Surprise Loss; MediaNews Seeks to Build Stake

Activist investor MediaNews Group Inc. sought to almost double its stake in Monster Worldwide Inc., keeping the pressure on the job-listing company, which reported a surprising loss Friday.

MediaNews, already the largest stakeholder with a nearly 12% stake, launched an effort to buy a further 10% stake in Monster at $3.70 a share. MediaNews can't build up more than a 25% stake without tripping Monster's change-of-control mechanism in a credit agreement.

The offer from MediaNews represents an 8.8% premium to the share price in MediaNews's pact with Dutch recruitment firm Randstand Holding NV. In August, Randstad agreed to buy Monster for $429 million, or $3.40 a share.

Representatives from Monster and Randstad weren't immediately available for comment. Monster, in its earnings release Friday, continued to recommend that stakeholders accept the Randstad offer.

MediaNews has criticized the Randstand deal, calling it the definition of "selling at the bottom" and has tried to rally shareholder support. Last month, the activist investor said it planned to nominate seven members to replace Monster's entire board, citing a lack of confidence in Monster's current management.

Monster shares rose 1.8% to $3.43 in morning trading in New York.

Also on Friday, Monday reported a surprising third-quarter loss and a bigger-than-expected decline in revenue.

Monster reported it swung to a loss of $180.5 million, or $2.03 per share during its third quarter compared with a profit of $175.8 million or $1.98 a share a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the company posted a loss of 5 cents a share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 1 cent a share on revenue of $150.7 million.

Revenue slipped 13% to $144.8 million, led by a 16% decline in its North American business.

The job-posting service suspended its guidance because of the Randstad acquisition that it still expects will close in the current quarter.

Write to Imani Moise at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 21, 2016 11:05 ET (15:05 GMT)

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